I think it's more common that programmers think they know how to do it right

Sure, but I think you missed my point. I'd rather hire someone who understands the issues and uses best practices than someone that just uses best practices without really knowing why they are "best".

I understand enough to know that I don't understand, which might sound self-detrimental

That sounds both honest and like you have a realistic perspective on what you'd need to learn. Those are two other good qualities that one might look for in an interview.

Regarding how one might fool an interviewer, that's quite true. It depends on the skill of the interviewer as well as his proficiency in the technical material being covered. (Assuming it's a technical interview.)

When putting a smiley right before a closing parenthesis, do you:

Use two parentheses: (Like this: :) )
Use one parenthesis: (Like this: :)
Reverse direction of the smiley: (Like this: (: )
Use angle/square brackets instead of parentheses
Use C-style commenting to set the smiley off from the closing parenthesis
Make the smiley a dunce: (:>
I disapprove of emoticons
Other